TOM DASCHLE, SENATE MINORITY LEADER

When South Dakota Democrat Tom Daschle became minority leader of the Senate in 1994, expectations couldn't have been much lower. After all, Daschle was one of the greenest leaders in congressional history: at 47, in just his second term in the Senate, he had never even chaired a committee. His supporters had been mostly from the younger generation of Senators elected in his class. After he squeaked into the leader's job by a one-vote margin, elder Democrats tittered behind the scenes, sure he would turn to putty in the masterly hands of majority leader Bob Dole.